Manchester Select Board Unanimously Confirms McCoy as Next Police Chief

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, May 18, 2026, Manchester-by-the-Sea Select Board confirms Lieutenant Mark McCoy as next police chief. The board voted unanimously Monday to approve Town Administrator Tony Marasm's recommendation of McCoy, who has served as outgoing Chief Todd Fitzgerald's second-in-command for six and a half years and emerged from a competitive process that drew 11 applications before being narrowed to two finalists. McCoy will serve as interim deputy chief until Fitzgerald's retirement takes effect on or about July 6, with contract negotiations expected to conclude within weeks. The board also swore in three new officers, Gary Abram, Kenny Paul, and Jordan McGonigal, and heard a lengthy presentation from Jefferson Apartment Group, which is proposing 285 luxury rental units on a roughly 20-acre Gordon College parcel off Pine Street north of Route 128, to be filed under Chapter 40B. Planning Board Chair Sarah Creighton, speaking as an individual, warned that the public "will freak out" over the scale of the structures, which she estimated rival the total square footage of the high school and two other major town buildings combined; board members raised concerns about sewer capacity, traffic on Pine and School Streets, and the risk of creating a self-contained community outside downtown.